The Savage Is Loose

This was a personal project of George C Scott. The early 1970s did see a lot of these personal projects because it was before the era of Jaws and Star Wars . They were eagerly bankrolled because the Industry was still under the spell of Easy Rider. Scott was infuriated that his film got an R rating . Still even one F bomb can do that in an otherwise clean film. The Savage is Loose is basically mediocre and it's exploration of a taboo subject is competent but not profound . The directing and cinematography is good . Scott , his wife Trish Van Devere and Lee Harcourt Montgomery do their roles very well . Still the film doesn't have that intangible X factor special something that would propel it into Classic or even Cult Classic status .

when it came out. I was 20 years old (I am now 51 years old). I've never forgotten this movie in all these years. Now looking back, this was a subject matter that took a lot of guts to touch on way back then. Heck, incest would be a touchy subject matter even now! I saw it with my 2 sisters and I remember walking out of the movie 31 years ago just dumbstruck. Wow, what a story! I've never seen it in video stores and have never heard anything about it nor have I ever met anyone else that saw it back then when I did. (What did we do before the Internet?) If you ever get the chance to see it, do. I wouldn't watch it with any children under the age of 18. It's pretty graphic from what I can remember. And the ending, well, you just have to see it.

I watched this film when I was very young -- maybe 12; it was either a TV or cable movie then. Taped it, and had it for years. I sympathize with the other reviewer who said he showed it to his Taiwanese date -- my wife is Taiwanese, and somehow, I don't think she would like it either, though not due to prudishness. She's just not into savages, Tarzan-like figures, or Christianity. I did like this film when I was a kid -- and well into my 20s, but have not seen it since then (now in my later 40s). Yet, I still remember most of it vividly. Kudos to George C. Scott -- and I am very sorry for him that the film did not do better, but also I am in no way surprised. Many out-on-a-limb worthy efforts fail to win over the majority of viewers. (I recall my grandmother saying she walked out of A Clockwork Orange when she somehow went to see it in the theater in the early '70s -- and I loved that film too; still do.) I wonder how Savage would do now, if it were released on DVD in good quality. I would advise seeing it, especially to younger people with imagination, curiosity, and a capacity for deep thought. (I could not watch Scott in Day of the Dolphin, however -- not due to any acting problem, but because that film struck me as terribly heartrending -- I felt badly for the dolphins.) This one didn't trouble me a bit, except I wondered what would come next at the end.

This movie provides a family the basis for discussions regarding eternal human behavior usually impossible to begin with teenagers, male and female. While not a "remake" of Oedipus, teenagers will better understand the essence of their tensions from this experience.

You are warned to view this movie first as parents without the siblings. Then, if you are prepared to begin the transition of establishing an open relationship with your teenagers at an adult, not parental, level, view it together.

Upon taking a final cursory glance at the dusty back shelves of a semi-local video store going out of business, already with an armful of moldy oldies such as "House on the Edge of the Park" and "Slime City" (at five bucks a piece), I caught sight of this long out of print study in Oedipal politics set on a jungle island where a young boy, taught to obey the rules of the wild, discovers that his only sexual partner is his sexy mother. So it's a battle of wills between he and his father to decide who, as Lou Reed said, can "bag their beloved Big Bird."

It's not anywhere near as kinky as it sounds; Mostly this takes the high dramatic road, and pulls it off reasonably well, although much of it's intentions are dampened by George C. Scott's inert direction.

On a final note, I would like to point out that I put down an original video copy of Larry Cohen's "It's Alive" to buy this one. Think I made the right choice?

Yeah I thought so.